East Wenatchee Clovis Site

East Wenatchee Clovis Site
East Wenatchee Clovis Site is located in Washington (state)
East Wenatchee Clovis Site
Location within Washington (state)
47°24′22″N 120°12′7″W / 47.40611°N 120.20194°W / 47.40611; -120.20194
Typearcheological site
CulturesClovis
Locationnear East Wenatchee, Washington
Site notes
Excavation dates1988, 1990
ArchaeologistsPeter J. Mehringer, R. Michael Gramly
Public accessNo

The East Wenatchee Clovis Site (also called the Richey-Roberts Clovis Site or the Richey Clovis Cache), with the site designation of "45DO482", is a deposit of prehistoric Clovis points and other implements, dating to roughly 11,000 radiocarbon years before present, found near the city of East Wenatchee, Washington in 1987. Accidentally discovered on an apple farm, the site contained some of the largest known stone Clovis points. It lies just west of the Columbia River.

Archaeology

From source:Two views of a reassembled beveled bone rod or foreshaft from the East Wenatchee site

The site was accidentally uncovered on May 27, 1987 as the foreman of the orchard, Mark Mickles, and farm employee Moises Aguirre Calzada were installing an irrigation line.[1] They unearthed 5 fluted points, 14 other stone tools, and 4 bone rods which were at first mistaken for tools left by contemporary Indian tribes.[2][3] Orchard co-owner Rich Roberts and his wife Joanne later showed the items to local amateur archaeologist Russell S. Congdon, who identified them as Clovis tools and contacted archaeologist Robert Mierendorf who confirmed the identification as Clovis.

From source: Experimental splint hafted pike with replica Clovis point tip, resin cast of East Wenatchee beveled bone rod, yellow pine mainshaft and tanned buckskin strips for lashing.

An excavation in April 1988, led by Peter J. Mehringer of Washington State University with a team of experts in Paleo-Indian archaeology and members of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, discovered 22 more stone and bone tools, but removed only five stone objects including two 23.5 centimeter long fluted Clovis bifaces. Two backhoe trenches were dug 40-625 meters north-northeast of the tool discovery location. Excavated volcanic tephra (from the Glacier Peak and Mazama eruptions) produced a date of 11,125 ± 130 14C yr B.P. (Before Present). The date is based on Glacier Peak volcanic ash adhering to Clovis artifacts.[4][5][6][7]

Example of a biface Clovis projectile point, from Sevier County, Utah, chert

After Mack Richey became sole owner of the site in November 1988 excavation resumed under archaeologist R. Michael Gramly of the Buffalo Museum of Science and the North Central Washington Museum of Wenatchee in October 1990. Finds included 30 bone (including 14 bi-beveled bone rods) and stone tools including a 24.5 centimeter long fluted Clovis point, at that time the largest ever found. Blood residue on 3 of the stone tools matched bison, bovine, deer, and rabbit. The bone rods were later determined to be used to haft projectile points.[8][9][10][11][12] The methods and results of this excavation have been questioned.[13]

In 1992, Richey donated all the recovered Clovis artifacts and sold the archaeological rights to the 35-square-meter site for $250,000 to the Washington State Historical Society, which owns them in perpetuity. The sale contract stipulated that no archaeological work could take place for 15 years after the purchase; that moratorium expired June 1, 2007, although no new scientific digging has since taken place. Richey sold the entire orchard to a new owner in 2004. At this time what was once an archaeological site was re-filled with dirt, covered with a cement slab, and restored to be part of the orchard.[14]

The site continued to operate as a commercial apple orchard as of 2007. As researchers Ruth Kirk and Richard D. Daugherty wrote, "Despite all the care taken, certain risks to the site remain. How will orchard chemicals and irrigation water affect bone still in the ground? And what about ongoing bioturbation, the disturbance caused by roots and rodents? The site in the orchard was essentially undisturbed when its window to the past was opened, albeit slightly. It has been sampled but not fully excavated. Enigma remains."[15]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Mehringer, P. J., Jr., "Of Apples and Archaeology", Universe (WSU Graduate School Magazine), 1(2):2-8, Reprinted in Mammoth Trumpet 5(2):1, pp. 4-5, 1989
  2. ↑ Waitt, Richard B., "Megafloods and Clovis cache at Wenatchee, Washington", Quaternary Research 85.3, pp. 430-444, 2016
  3. ↑ "Beer cans, prehistoric tools and even bones could lurk under your yard". The Seattle Times. 2024-11-24. Retrieved 2026-06-16.
  4. ↑ Mehringer, P. J., Jr. & F. F. Foit, "Volcanic ash dating of the Clovis cache at East Wenatchee, Washington", national Geographic Research 6(4), pp. 495-503, 1990
  5. ↑ Mehringer, P. J., Jr., "Clovis cache found: Weapons of ancient Americans", National Geographic Magazine, 1988, 174(4), pp. 500-503, 1988
  6. ↑ Mehringer Jr, Peter J., John C. Sheppard, and Franklin F. Foit Jr., "The age of Glacier Peak tephra in west-central Montana", Quaternary Research 21.1, pp. 36-41, 1984
  7. ↑ Mehringer Jr, Peter J., "The Richey–Roberts Clovis Cache, East Wenatchee, Washington", Northwest Science 62, pp. 271-272, 1988
  8. ↑ Gramly, Richard Michael, "The Richey Clovis Cache: Earliest Americans along the Columbia River", Great Lakes Artifact Repository Buffalo, NY 14203. Persimmon Press, 1993
  9. ↑ Gramly, Richard Michael, "The East Wenatchee Clovis Site (Richey–Roberts Site): summary of findings and current status", Current Research in the Pleistocene 13.19, e21, 1996
  10. ↑ Gramly, R. M., D. C. Waldorf, and V. Waldorf, "Observations about the raw materials present at the East Wenatchee Clovis site", The Amateur Archaeologist 10.1, pp. 41-45, 2004
  11. ↑ Gramly, R. M., "Narrative for Color Slide Set of the 1990 Excavations and Artifacts of the East Wenatchee Clovis Site", Douglas Co., WA, 1993
  12. ↑ Gramly, Richard Michael, "Blood residues upon tools from the East Wenatchee Clovis site, Douglas County, Washington", Ohio Archaeologist 41.4, pp. 4-9, 1991
  13. ↑ Mierendorf, R., "Comments on the East Wenatchee Clovis Site (45DO482), Washington State, As Reported on by Rilchard M. Gramley", Current Research in the Pleistocene, 1997, V. 14, pp. 57-59, 1997
  14. ↑ Croes, Dale R., Darby C. Stapp, and Julia G. Longenecker, "Pacifc Northwest Archaeological Society (PNWAS): Reaching the Northwest Advocational Public for 36 Years", "How do we Reach More? Sharing Cultural and Archaeological Research with Others", Northwest Anthropology, 35-45, 2021
  15. ↑ Kirk, Ruth and Daugherty, Richard D., "Archaeology in Washington", University of Washington Press, 2007

Further reading

  • Huckell, Bruce, Bruce A. Bradley, and Peter J. Mehringer, "Flaked stone artifacts from the East Wenatchee Clovis cache", Texas A&M University Press, 2026
  • Johnson, Michael F., "Dissecting Clovis Point 325 from 45D0432 in East Wenatchee, Washington", Archaeological Society of Virginia Quarterly Bulletin 48.2, pp. 64-72, 1993
  • Lyman, R. Lee, Michael J. O'Brien, and Virgil Hayes, "A mechanical and functional study of bone rods from the Richey–Roberts Clovis cache, Washington, USA", Journal of Archaeological Science 25.9, pp. 887-906, 1998
  • Robbins, Jefferson, "Clovis: Ancient site, modern world", The Wenatchee World, Wenatchee, Wash., May 27, 2007
  • Becker, Paula, "Moises Aquirre and Mark Mickles discover prehistoric Clovis point artifacts in an East Wenatchee apple orchard on May 27, 1987", Oct 3, 2006
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